Blown’ Up The Spot

By

-

Jul 14, 2016

As long as there are no objections I am going to keep posting random Durham region cars every Thursday until I run out of content, and since I usually take Ash to at least one classic cruise in a week I don’t think I’ll be running out of content any time soon.

These two blown GMs were spotted at three different events, a Saturday night Canadian Tire cruise in, a Father’s Day Show, and the Grass Roots car show.

The first is, I’m pretty sure, a 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

I unfortunately have no hard info about either of these cars, but they certainly look to be very purpose-built, equipped with drag wheel and tire set ups, blown small blocks, and tube front ends.

The second car is a Pontiac Beaumont and I heard rumblings that this particular car puts down 1300 to the wheels which means it would have no problem backing up it’s vanity plate.

That plate, if you’re wondering, isn’t real but it has been on the car both times I have seen it so it’s safe to assume the owner is down to run it until it becomes a problem.

I’ve also been told this car can be regularly spotted cruising around Durham gas prices be damned.

Huge tubs allow the Billet specialties wheels to fit just right, and the front end has been brought down for the perfect rake.

I love the fact that cars liek these roam the streets and I really hope this never changes.

Theme Tuesdays: More Unique Local Motorswaps

By

DaveT

-

Jul 12, 2016

0

Way back in 2009, when this site was in its infancy, and I was a fresh-faced blogger with the world at my fingertips, I did a Theme Tuesday post featuring unique local motor swaps.

The idea behind that post was two-fold; one showcase the ingenuity of local enthusiasts, and two show people the site’s reach was wider than just suspension and wheels.

That post excelled at both points and actually year after year gets traffic above and beyond some of the other Theme Tuesday posts that have followed. This all means that a second round has been long, long overdue.

2JZ Jaguar XJ

This Jaguar tops the list as the most recent unique motor swaps I have come across spotted only a few weeks ago at the Trendsetters show in Brampton.

With a body that is showing its age, and somewhat dated chrome 20s, I didn’t give this car a second look until I heard the faint sound of a turbo as it cruised through the show looking for a spot to park.

When the hood was popped, and I saw the swiss army knife of Japanese motors, the Toyota 2JZ, things started to make a little sense.

For those of you who may have been curious from the original post the car is auto, which actually suits a barge such as this pretty well.

LSA Powered Eldorado

In the first edition of this post there was a Northstar powered Eldorado on air ride, that car was cool but this CTSV (LSA) powered model is a monster.

Spotted last year at Engineered Automotive –at one of their Cars and Coffee events– this might just be the biggest sleeper on the list.

It also comes with a warning taped to the door that reads “car accelerates very quickly”, you don’t say.

2UZFE ’76 Celica

Unlike the 2JZ the 2UZFE isn’t a motor that I see a lot of. I think in the years I’ve been doing this blog I have seen one under the hood of a car competing in the Canadian Sport Compact series and the second under the hood of this Dynamotorsports Celica.

Of course Dynamotorsports, known for their quad digit horsepower cars, didn’t stop at just putting the V8 under the hood. They added a turbo and Ford svt supercharger to the mix just because.

I’m pretty sure this one is buttoned up and on the road now and ready to blow the doors off any and all challengers.

VR6 Triumph Tr6

Posted in a WTF Friday a few months ago this TR6 VR6 spot is probably almost two years old.

I’ve only seen the car once, at Spring Fling, but I feel like it is still quietly roaming the streets today flying under everyone’s radar, until of course the gas pedal is trounced and that beautiful vr6 sound is heard.

VR6 S14

Trevor finished this unlikely swap a few years ago but even when version 1.0 was ‘done’ Trevor was never really quite pleased with the car. Last year right after it put down a hair under 700 horsepower he proceeded to take it apart.

Using a blown head gasket as an excuse to start fresh (the car did the 699 pull with said head gasket), things got out of hand quickly and he lopped off the front of the car so he could build a tube front end.

Still plugging way I can’t wait to see the next incarnation of this particular s14.

1jz e36

I’m stretching “local” a bit with this one as this car is in Quebec but it was a nice thing to stumble upon at Formula Drift last year.

Though slightly less common the 1JZ is starting to make its way under the hood of a few cars…

1JZ e46

…including GT Custom Exhaust‘s e46. Build by Mike Catell, who’s done a lot of impressive fabrication for a bunch of different builds East of Toronto, this car was running with a BMW motor as recently as three weeks ago.

I’m not sure if it was mechanical failure or bordem that triggered this one but either way, out with the BMW motor and in with the Toyota unit.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHs8FL1hHh-/?taken-by=devocat

LS Miatas

I tried to keep LS motors in this post to somewhat of a minimum but I pretty well failed because they are everywhere. There’s a few LS Miatas in the city each with their own take on the swap.

Pick your poison as it were.

4BT Miata

I have to admit that I didn’t think this 4bt Miata project would get finished the first time I heard about it. A crowd funded custom car build? Just seemed like a recipe for disaster.

But it looks like the egg is on my face because the motor is in the car, and from what I’ve read does run.

It doesn’t look a lot like the initial rendering, but I gotta say hats off for getting it there, and in a day apparently, more info on this one can be found here on facebook which is also where the photos came from.

NV Autos 2JZ Subaru

The inclusion of this car shouldn’t really be much of a surprise, everywhere the car goes people double take once they realize what they are looking at.

While I have seen a few of the cars above only sitting at shows, or quietly idling I have seen this car driven in anger on many occasions.

It does what it was designed to do, and does it well, and Riley does a great job of taming the beast at Formula Drift Canada events.

Pat Cry’s 2JZ FR-S

That last picture segues well into photos of Pat’s 2jz FRS. After tying to make a turbo FA20 do what he wanted Pat switched to a 2JZ swap last season and hasn’t looked back, probably because the rear view is full of tire smoke.

Like Riley’s car Pat’s works very well too and this year they have cranked up the boost to really see how much abuse the car can take.

This has led to a few component failures but nothing the Cyrious Garageworks team can’t overcome.

LSA Powered 1970 Camaro

Drift cars are far from the only projects Cyrious Garageworks is capable of handling and the World War Z Camaro is proof of that.

Built in-house this LSA powered car is a monster that wears street and show car clothing. Turning heads and dropping jaws anywhere it goes this car simply had to close out this list.

I’ll do my best not to let a two-year lapse pass between this and the next one, but, if you feel there’s a car I sorely missed do let me know in the comments.

Event Coverage: Eurokracy 2016 – Pt.1

By

DaveT

-

Jul 11, 2016

0

We start our Eurokracy Montreal coverage with a brutally hot day at ICAR Circuit, in Mirabel, Quebec. A venue which has not a speck of shade aside from the tents and canopies.

There was no way I was missing Eurokracy after how epic the last season’s event was. Out of the Canadian events I covered last season, this was probably one of my favourites. And this, the Burnout Competition, was the most memorable part.

First in the ring came the appropriately titled “Burnout Slut” to get everyone warmed up.

A set of tires was quickly toasted to happy cheers from the sun burnt crowd.

Next up was this Volvo. I guess it got a little too cloudy in there last year, so they removed the roof.

This ratty looking Scandinavian machine always seems to produce nice smoke clouds to photograph.

After a quick clean up a couple of Japanese cars joined the party.

The driver of this Miata is completely engulfed in smoke.

The little Miata that could.

This V8 powered S13 made the most of the burnout arena with some spirited figure 8’s.

Some cars needed a hand to get things started, but that didn’t ruin the fun.

Open diffs do though.

Coal was rolled this day.

Everything was calm and collected with this car.. until “POP”

Oil and coolant streamed from the engine.

The owner didn’t seem too deterred at the time… but they never do.

The car was pushed out of the competition area to loud cheering from a now very energetic crowd.

Nonchalantly watering the burnout.

Yes that is a rear wheel drive Subaru.

At this point, even the ICAR staff and emergency crews were laughing and had their phones out shooting videos. The staff at these events are always very supportive.

The Burnout Slut came back for a final, exhaustingly long burnout. Even after the tires had popped, the driver didn’t stop until the ICAR staff cut him off.

And the water ran black with rubber bits as the burnouts came to an end.

I peeled rubber shrapnel off of my clothing and skin as the audience dispersed back out into show area. With numb eardrums, the other media members and I agreed that this part of Eurokracy was well worth the drive alone. Already looking forward to next year!

This is just the beginning of our Eurokracy coverage, much more to come.

I seent it

By

DaveT

-

Jul 8, 2016

0

There’s no phone here at SIE headquarters, but if there were it would have been ringing off the hook with people calling to see if I had seen Ryan Tuerck’s latest project, a Ferrari 458 Powered Scion FR-S.

Even without a phone I got sent the link to the video below about five times and saw it in my Facebook feed about 50.

The project is an insane undertaking, and its very early on in the progress, but with this much hype around it, and big names behind it, I have no doubt it will get done and be pretty crazy when its finished.

Many people are asking about the intake manifold pointing back into he cabin (and the cut cabin period) but Tuerck says his crew has plans for that.

I usually try not to post what everyone else is posting for WTF Friday but this project is just too crazy to ignore.

The photos are by Larry Chen and the video comes via Donut Media.

Insane Parisienne

By

DaveT

-

Jul 7, 2016

0

At the same Father’s Day show I saw Fred’s Cadicallac (and the ‘Frankenmerc’ for that matter) I spotted this amazing Pontiac Parisenne. For those of you outside of North America the Parisienne was a Canadian market specific car from ’58 to ’83 then sold in both US and Canadian markets from ’83 to the end of its run in ’86.

This one specifically has been given a proper kustom treatment resulting in the drop dead gorgeous look below.

A very big car this one has all the touches of a traditional kustom with a spotlight, low ride height, lakeside pipes, lots of chrome and a wicked paint job.

I am usually not a continental kit fan but the fins and length of this car in general really make it work.

Watching this car roll out it will please some of you to learn its as static as they get. Really excited to see more of what the Durham region has to offer for classics, so far so good.

Theme Tuesdays: Rare Wheels

By

DaveT

-

Jul 5, 2016

3

Reader Matt suggested last week that I do a Theme Tuesday on rare wheels, and I admit it’s a pretty theme idea that I have never tackled.

Rare wheels come in several different forms, low production, out of production, and unique applications and this week’s Theme Tuesday touches on all varieties.

It’s also just a quick skim of the surface until I get some time to really dive in to this topic, expect this theme to boomerang back around in the next few months or so.

Going to start things off with the Messer wheels on Stance East Chad's Mercedes — Going to start things off with the Messer wheels on Stance East Chad’s Mercedes

Messer makes a lot of unique wheels (many of which are too extreme for me) and Chad happens to have the only ME-06-3 wheels in North America

Time for me to toot my own horn a bit, the wheels on my speed are one of I beleive 4 sets in total that Mtechnica has made — Time for me to toot my horn a bit, the directional wheels on my car are one of four Mtechnica have made

At last check they were the only 18" models to boot — At last check they were also the only 18″ models in existence…

pfaff-tuning-scraped-crusaders-vip-lexus-is300-3 — Luxury Abstract wheels are still owned by a relatively select few and none have the finish that Aidan’s do

pfaff-tuning-scraped-crusaders-vip-lexus-is300-2 — He waited a while for these to be cut but it was worth it, now if only the car itself would come back out of the shop…

The defin fins on Pete's car are rare, rare, rare, so rare in fact that SSR seemed quite surprised he had a pair when I sent them photos — The SSR Defi Fins on Pete’s car are rare, rare, rare, so rare in fact that SSR seemed quite surprised he had a pair when I sent them photos

They suit his EF pretty well, considering how large they are — They are quite aggressive but they suit his EF pretty well

Ken has a whole slew of Rare wheels in his collection but these Autocouture Crescent wheels are perhaps my favorite, its such a classic VIP full face style

Then again so do these.. — These Work VS GS wheels also look quit nice though. No matter what wheels he runs Ken has excellent taste

These weds are not rare but to see them on a minitruck? That's a bit rare — Weds LXZ wheels are not exactly rare, but seeing them on a minitruck certainly is

On that same note, Billets on a VW? Also somewhat rare (and stunning as it appears) — On that same note, Billets on a VW? Looks great and I can’t imagine thee are a lot of a Billets of this vintage kicking around in vw fitment

More billets, these are, as far as I know specifically made for a beetle — More billets, these are, as far as I know this set was specifically made for this new, new-Beetle

On a bit of a VW/billet roll here, these HTN wheels on @remux car are the only ones I've ever seen — On a bit of a VW/billet roll here, these HTN wheels on @remux‘s car are the only ones I’ve ever seen

eurokracy-2014-top-100-mk4-jetta — Jasgjiven’s Carline CM2 wheels are, if I am not mistaken, quite rare, to the point where he might have one of the few (only?) sets in North America

I blogged about these wheels awhile back, never thought to see them so close to home — Going to end things off with some ultra rare Campagnolo wheels spotted on a Golf GTI back in 2012

These wheels were originally made for ' 77 Ferrari 08 GT4 before Rotiform modified them for VW fitment — These wheels were originally made for ‘ 77 Ferrari 08 GT4 before Rotiform modified them for VW fitment

Olive was less interested. — It might not look it but my dog Olive is very much impressed

Event Coverage: Formula Drift Canada Round 2 – Redemption

By

DaveT

-

Jul 4, 2016

1

For the last few years Formula Drift Canada has been largely a Quebec based affair, with much of its fan base and competitive field residing in Quebec or in very close proximity to it.

However with the number of Ontario residents supporting the series growing year after year, Formula Drift Canada gave back to the Ontario fan base by bring an event back to Ontario for 2016.

When the Sunset Speedway was announced as the venue I’m sure I was not the only one a little surprised a somewhat remote oval was chosen.

To be completely honest I didn’t even know there was a racetrack in Barrie, and when I asked people about the track many said they had memories of coming to the track to watch Demolition Derbys, and were surprised it was still around.

Drake sat out last year’s world round, but this year we’d be covering this Ontario event together and we both showed up about half an hour before the media meeting kicked off.

In the break between the meeting and practice Drake and I wasted no time taking advantage of the venue being empty so early in the morning as both the pits and the show would fill up later that day.

Being a compact venue it was pretty easy to get a quick lay of the land without a bike, scooter, golf kart or moped.

The pits were close to the parking lot, and the show area was close to the track. This all meant it was easy to wander around when the track was cold without worry of being too far out of position when the engines started to fire up.

The show portion wasn’t the largest I’ve seen at a drift event, but the cars were pretty decent, however since there’s a lot of other show coverage on the site it won’t be priority in this post.

But, it has become quite obvious at this point that I can’t walk past Brad’s Miata without taking a photo of it, so here are a few more.

With this being the sole Ontario stop of the season all of the local competitive field was trying their best to put on a good show for the fans, and fill spots one through three with Ontario residents.

Moneygang Steve‘s car is now mechanically complete and even more of a beast than it was the previous season.

Steve drove well and made it into the top 16 however his axles decided they had enough, both snapping once the tandems started.

Mats Baribeu, another Ontario native, was putting his Chaser through its paces.

Black last season, Mats car is now a vibrant copper color. His Toyota has always been one of the more stylish cars in the field and this year it looks even better, he’s also one of the few cars in the field that have wheels sitting mostly within the fenders.

Mats has always been one of my favorite drivers to watch since I first saw him drive at DMCC six years ago. He’s never afraid to let it all hang out with tons of angle every time he’s on the track.

Unfortunately, as fun as Mats is to shoot, we were only able to do it in practice and qualifying as he straightened during both of his judged runs and didn’t make the top 16.

Riley Sexsmith drove well out in Barrie –actually I don’t think I’ve ever really seen Riley have a bad day– making it into the top sixteen at the thirteenth spot.

His NV Auto 2JZ Subaru is a smoke machine out that seems to never really hiccup. The vibrant orange livery makes it a really great photo subject too no matter how bright and hot the sun is.

The local veteran Pat Cyr had a bit of a rough go at the Sunset Speedway. In practice the day before the event he was plagued with fuel delivery problems that ended his day seven laps in.

After a late night at the shop replacing the fuel delivery system, the Cyrious Garageworks team was rewarded for their efforts with an intercooler that cracked their first practice lap.

With no TIG welder to be found, Brad (a member of Pat’s crew) had to head back to Mississauga weld the intercooler, then turn right back around and come out to the track to put the car back together in time for Pat’s qualifying run.

Most people would have a tough time coping in a situation like this, or at least most normal people, but Pat was as cool as ice signing posters and talking to fans as time ticked away.

Miraculously they got the car back together just in time and Pat put together a killer qualifying run that earned him the tenth qualifying spot.

Unfortunately transmission problems ended his day sooner than he would have hoped in the top sixteen, but no one can say it was for lack of trying.

Pat wasn’t the only one having a rough day, Tommy “Tom Tom” Bosivert found himself hard into the wall at Sunset speedway.

The impact was pretty significant, but I’m pretty sure he was alright. His car however was a different story, and though it looked like a write off from where I was standing his team tried their very best at getting it fixed for qualifying.

It was all for naught though. They did get the car back onto four wheels but it was still in no condition to compete.

Practice for everyone else seemed to go pretty well, with no other major incidents and watching from the infield qualifying was pretty exciting even though I feared I might pass out as it was extremely hot and I had a rapidly depleting water supply.

I managed however, and Drake did a great job of capturing the action from the spectators point of view which really gives some depth to the coverage perspective wise.

Alex Blanchette didn’t qualify but he drove his supercharged Genesis has hard as he could.

If being the only Genesis in the field wasn’t unique enough, he also added some Rollerblade wheels to his bash car that protruded from the bumper.

The wheels looked pretty fresh, and I feel like if they actually did hit the wall they would just vanish entirely, but it was a nice talking piece none the less.

Pennsylvanians Troy Manners became one of my favorites of the day because I’m pretty familiar with the drive from Penn to Ontario and it’s not something I expected someone to do to compete in drifting.

After something in the rear end let go right near the end of his first qualifying run, he had to let it all hang out in run two and just making it in.

He’s a pretty young competitor, but it looks like there’s a bright future ahead of him of he can keep a program together. In fact I need to take a second to appreciate just how hard everyone in the Formula Drift Canada field works to keep their programs running.

Motorsports are in no way cheap and every competitor works incredibly hard to keep doing this year after year.

Jonathan Guitard qualified in seventh spot and ended up facing Pat Cyr if the first round of the top 16 elimination, after Pat’s transmission problems cropped up Jonathan moved on.

Youri Levesque drove extremely well in practice, and in his qualifying run, and ended up at the top of the heap with a 79.5.

He ended the day in third spot, and celebrated a great day with his son during the award ceremony.

Miro Ovcharik put on quite a show at the Sunset Speedway from practice all the way through to the finals.

As the competition went later into the night Miro stayed consistent and took home a well deserved second podium position under the Barrie lights.

Jonathan Nerren was one of two halves of a Zenna Tires sponsored pair. Both drivers made it into the top sixteen, with Jonathan taking the fourteenth spot.

Tyler Nelson was the other half of the orange and silver qualified fourth, but battled from there up to the first place position.

A long day for drivers, media, and fans alike this Barrie Speedway round was great and I really hope that Ontario gets the opportunity to welcome Formula Drift back next year.

The Next Formula Drift Canada Event is July 16th at St Eustache, and it’s a world round so there will be some big names there. Head over to formuladriftcanada.com for more info.

WTF Friday: Blended GMS

By

DaveT

-

Jul 1, 2016

0

A large part of the minitruck community sure does love panel swaps. Mustang front ends on S10s, Eclipse front ends on Blazers, Corvette C4 rear ends on everything, the list goes on and on.

Some of these swaps work really well while others, well, sometimes the best laid plans don’t turn out as expected.

What you’re looking at above is a 2002 Trailblazer with a 2012 Camaro SS front clip, but wait there’s more!

In addition to the front headlights, bumper, and hood, the rear bumper and tail lights have been added too.

The whole thing was then covered in a chameleon paint job in what looks to be an attempt to cover up the filler used to get things to work out.

The side profile of the mashed up GM is well, unique to say the least. However the vehicle does have one saving grace, which would be the power plant.

Under the hood is a 383 stroker that’s been bored over which means this product of the GM parts bin should go pretty well. Or at least well enough to really test how well those panels have been grafted on.

If you’re willing to find out just how fast you can go before the swapped panels leave the truck it is for sale for 10k in Tampa bay.

Boppin’

By

DaveT

-

Jun 30, 2016

1

Fred’s ’57 Cadillac is incredible. I saw it at the Jalopy Jam Up last year and it’s just my style. Astros, thin whites, flaked roof, juiced, gold paint, and white wheel wells that are somehow always clean.

Fred is also a really nice guy to who does a lot for the local car community out here in Durham so I’ve been lucky enough to see the car again and again.

At Fire Up The Grill On Fathers day I saw it once more and decided to take a couple snaps. The background isn’t stellar or anything but with a car like this you really can’t take a bad shot.

He’s invited me to come check out his place some time so who knows maybe an upcoming feature?

Theme Tuesdays: Recently Viewed – June 2016

By

DaveT

-

Jun 28, 2016

2

Apologies for MIA Theme Tuesday last week. This post was actually supposed to be that but I just didn’t get time to sit down and finish it much beyond the title.

There’s a bit of old, a bit of new, a bit of borrowed, and nothing blue for this week. Including, of course, Leno’s heck of a ride in Hemi Under Glass if you’ve yet to see it.

Of course as cool as Hemi Under Glass is, I was always more of a Little Red Wagon fan.

And while we’re talking abotu wheels up, how about Eddie Bellos 1300hp 911?